Taking pics of Rolex with digital camera

[gjohnson]

Well I've seen some very impressive photos of the Rolex on this board. Any tips on taking some pics of your watch. I tried and the flash from the digital camera either went off or a glare was in the face. Any ways to avoid that?

The camera does have a marco lense and can take a 7.1mg picture. I've taken other closeup shots of other items but since the watch is shiny it doesn't show up as nice in my pics.

Do I need to take the pics in daylight so ther is enough lighting?

Any tips would be appreciated.

[HoustonRider]

use daylight or any other light than a flash if possible. Make sure your lense is set to Macro (marco is a cheaper version, lol), and open up your aperature to let more light in.

thats all I can tell ya since I dont know what camera your using

[gjohnson]

oops marco lense

camera is nothing great just a Canon Powershot SD1000 Digital Elph 7.1megapixel.

[roadcarver]

I use a Nikon coolpix 5700, macro mode, tripod (without this, results will not be sharp).

If you a an LCD view finder usually WSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). This will show (if any) glares or improper composure of the shot.

Lighting is key. I usually use natural light or use a white fluorescent lighting, and you just have to play around with it to get the best shot that captures your intention.

If your camera has a shutter priority, this will help get the proper exposure as well. This is the beauty of digial cameras where you can preview what you did and make the necessary adjustments.

For example, the SD lume shot that I did, I took 4 shots to get the right one since I was playing with the shutter settings.

Good luck and have fun in the process.

[Remember2]

What you need to do is to find the manual setting called "Shutter (time)" - that will allow you to set a longer shutter time, to let in more light to the cameras sensor. That way, you won't need to use daylight, or flash.
Longer shutter times will require you to hold the camera steady to avoid blur - a tripod will help.
When you're at it, remember to set the "White balance", to make sure that the photo is true in color. Photes taken without flash in rooms lighted by regular light bulbs will often appear yellowish - "white balance" will correct that. It's the same when taking photos outside it cloudy weather - that will often result in photos with too much blue in them.
Last, but not least, you can use the setting "Aperture", to set the "Field of depth" - meaning how much of your photo (depth wise) shall be in focus/sharp (vs. blurred/unsharp). "Aperture" will affect the shutter time (and vice versa), so if you wish for a greater depth of field (more of your watch in focus), an even longer shutter time is required - to have the same exposure (dark vs. light photo).

Please note, that not all cameras (especially compacts) have the "Shutter" and/or "Aperture" features.

I hope that was understandable - it's surprisingly difficult to explain these things, when I don't speak english on a regular basis (I'm from Denmark).

[gjohnson]

have a tripod and will use that in conjunction to what you guys recomended as well.

I assume you have the glass at an angle to minimze any reflextion showing up in the face of the watch?

[Remember2]

Yes sometimes - if not you might catch yourself in the reflection ;)

But once you start taking pictures without flash, it becomes a whole new ball game...

[SLR]

I used a sony T100 - just a point and shoot. Anytime i try to shoot closeup macro, i turn the flash off, set the lens to macro (extreme setting) and put the camera either on a tripod or box to support it. sometimes it also helps to use the timer so that your hand pressing the shutter release doesn't shake the camera. Also i never found it necessary to use a shutter priority mode, usually automatic was fine as long as the flash was manually overridden to be off. my pics weren't perfect but not bad...
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=22720

[roadcarver]

Yep, it all depends on the angle. Before you take the shot, do a "wave" and see if your reflection is on the shot

[EvEr34]

Practice also improves things. I still have to take a dozen shots the get a decent one.

[roadcarver]

Ain't digital cool??

Originally Posted by EvEr34

Practice also improves things. I still have to take a dozen shots the get a decent one.